THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602070041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARSHA GILBERT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
INSTEAD OF relaxing during his retirement years, Edward G. Williams is using the money from his pension to make his dream of starting a theater company a reality.
Last July, the Norfolk native founded ZWG Repertory Theater, an African-American drama company.
So far, the fledgling company has staged two productions - ``The Island'' last October, followed by two Edward Albee plays, ``The American Dream'' and ``FAM and YAM'' in January.
Williams, who's bankrolled the productions, is seeking financial support to keep his dream alive.
Thursday at 6 p.m. at the White House Cafe in Norfolk, a benefit called ``A New Theater and All That Jazz'' will raise money for ZWG. Donations of $15 are requested.
The Hurrah Players, the Hampton Players and Company, and Paul Anthony, a disc jockey from ``Smooth Jazz'' radio station WJCD-CD 105.3, will provide entertainment. Two local actors, Rodney Suiter and Pedro Abad, will perform the 20-minute play ``FAM and YAM.''
Williams, a soft-spoken man of deliberate speech and manner, has three goals for ZWG, which is located at 737 Granby St. He wants it to become a professional company with paid, quality actors, directors, writers and set designers. He hopes to create a stage where actors, writers and directors can develop their art through performances. And he wants to use drama as a means to bridge the gap between the area's various ethnic groups.
``We'll see that we have more in common than not,'' said Williams, who has dreamed of starting such a theater for perhaps 15 years.
A playwright with a published novel and several short stories to his credit, Williams would like to offer classes in playwriting, directing and acting to nurture budding talent via ZWG.
``I started ZWG because we have black talent here, but they have so few opportunities to perfect their art and get before the public,'' he said.
Abad, who has acted in and directed plays in Hampton Roads since 1975 and is ZWG's vice president, is holding auditions for ZWG's next scheduled play, ``For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuff,'' which he will direct.
The initials of the theater group have special meaning for Williams. The Z represents his friend of 28 years, Pedro Zamora, who helped him start the company and died after having a massive stroke in November 1994. The W is for Williams' last name, while G is his middle initial.
In 1994, after being furloughed from one job and forced into early retirement in another, Williams faced mounting bills. It was time to relocate to an area with a less expensive cost of living, he decided. So he and Zamora sold their brownstone in Brooklyn and moved to Norfolk. Here they began the ground work for ZWG.
Williams says he does not regret using his pension and money from the sale of his home in New York to fund his vision. In forming a corporation and putting on two productions, he has shelled out almost $7,000.
That is a small price to pay, he says, if he can achieve his goal.
Williams has literally been around the world and back, but he has always maintained his love of history and writing.
A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, he attended Norfolk State University as a history major but dropped out after two years to join the Navy. After four years of ``seeing the world,'' Williams settled in New York City in 1955, later earning a bachelor's degree in history from the City College of New York.
For the next 40 years, Williams worked in several promotional positions for newspapers and an accounting firm. He even taught history to high school students when he could not get a job in journalism.
In 1970, his novel, ``Not Like Niggers,'' was published by St. Martins Press in New York. It is about an African-American family living in the South during the Depression.
Four of his short stories written in 1971, ``Great Day for a Funeral,'' ``Nightmare,'' ``Remembrances of a Lost Dream'' and ``Incidents of Time,'' were included in the anthology ``A Galaxy of Black Writing,'' published by Moore Publishing Co.
Six months ago, Williams applied for tax-deferred status for ZWG. He hopes soon be able to receive corporate funding and grants to help with the company's expenses. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
Edward G. Williams is director of the ZWG Repertory Theater in
Norfolk.
by CNB